by Dustin Long, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Dustin Long, Special for USA TODAY Sports

A NASCAR official said Monday that Jimmie Johnson did nothing wrong on the final restart of Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway despite howls from fans on social media to the contrary.

"To me it looked pretty fair and square,'' said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.

Johnson took the lead from Brad Keselowski off the restart and led the final two laps to win. The victory gives him a seven-point advantage on Keselowski in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings heading into the final two races of the season.

Johnson, restarting to the outside of Keselowski, appeared to take off first and beat Keselowski, the race leader, by inches to the start/finish line on the restart.

Technically, that would be a penalty. Section 9-9.F. of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rule Book states that "all car(s) must maintain their respective track position for the restart, until they cross the start/finish line.''

NASCAR, though, has been lenient in cases where a driver who beat the leader to the start/finish line on a restart relinquished the position immediately.

Johnson said that Keselowski spun his tires "pretty bad'' on the restart, allowing him to get a jump. Thinking he might have beat Keselowski to the start/finish line, Johnson said he sought to amend the matter quickly.

"I was ... trying to let him catch up as we got to the start/finish line and he kind of surged past right at it or just past it,'' Johnson said after his fifth victory of the season. "NASCAR has been aware of that in the past and allows you, if you give that nose back, you're in good shape.''

Even though Johnson did that, Pemberton said Monday that there wasn't a need to do so because there wasn't an issue with the restart.

Keselowski confirmed afterward he spun his tires on the restart and understood NASCAR's decision.

"I think NASCAR said before they're not going to get out a micrometer and measure that kind of stuff,'' said Keselowski, who finished second. "That's kind of the interpretation of the rules right now. Via that interpretation, I think it was probably fair play on both sides."

Pemberton said such close calls are common.

"Just about every race the second-place car beats the leader to the line by an inch or two,'' he said.

"When you went to double-file restarts this is what you have. You can't govern the restarts to the transponder (on the car) because then you're into regulating someone getting to the (restart) line and just rolling out of the gas and getting the guy on the outside with a black flag.

"Anybody that doesn't think those games don't happen, then it's obvious they're not paying attention.''

Series officials have monitors in their booth and can call up whatever replays they need to see through a liaison with the network in the booth.

So, what is allowable?

"We make the call when we know it's an obvious call that needs to be made,'' Pemberton said. "I think we've made those calls when they're obvious.''

The final restart for the green-white-checkered finish wasn't the only one that caused a stir -- on the track and on social media.

Johnson was not thrilled with the next-to-last restart with Keselowski.

"He completely jumped the start NASCAR,'' Johnson said on his radio. "Come on NASCAR, look at the tape that's (expletive).''

Crew chief Chad Knaus was asked about Johnson's reaction during the race, but he played it down, and soothed Johnson over the radio.

After the race, Johnson was calmer about the issue, perhaps because he was holding the trophy.

"It seemed really early to me,'' Johnson said. "Caught (Kyle Busch) off guard and myself. I need to look at the video before I put my foot in my mouth or something here. But it seemed early.''